Mix up fuels forecourt chaos

David McInally's car is now in for repair

Two dozen cars were left needing emergency repairs after a fuel mix up at the Tesco petrol station in Bellshill at the weekend.

Customers unknowingly filled their tanks with diesel at unleaded pumps, and vice-versa, at the forecourt on Sunday.

Tesco says 17 customers were affected on Sunday, and despite work being carried out to rectify the situation, a further five were affected on Monday.

One customer, David McInally, slammed the supermarket for failing to help.

The 21-year-old from Uddingston said: “I went into the station at 8am on Sunday, and filled my tank at the unleaded pump. I started my car and rolled forward about 5’ and then it cut off.

“I phoned Greenflag who sent out 911 recovery, and their man noticed it was diesel in the engine.

“At that point Tesco refused to help, saying it wasn’t their fault, and that I must have put the wrong fuel in, even though my receipt showed it was unleaded.

“Since then I have been given conflicting information and my car is still not sorted.”

Another customer, Alan Miller (28) of Bellshill, said: “No one made me aware about it, so I had a family friend mechanic spend a few hours on my car before I phoned the AA.

“Luckily they AA guy told me about another similar incident, so I went to Tesco and was assured that someone from the RAC would be out to see me. I was also told they would put enough fuel in to get me back up to the £20 of petrol I’d put in.

“I went back to get the fuel I was promised to be told that the head office would pay for the RAC but had to stop paying out on the fuel.

“I argued and got my £20. I’m happy I got my car fixed on the same day, but angry at the wasted day and extra hassle.”

Tesco say four pumps were closed on Sunday, and were cleaned and refilled before being put back into service. However, after a problem arose on Monday, the pumps were closed. By that point, it is believed a further five or six cars had been affected.

A Tesco spokesman said: “A small number of customers received the wrong fuel on Sunday morning when filling up at our

Belshill store.

“Colleagues at the station arranged and paid for the RAC to repair any customer’s vehicle which was affected.

“We are very sorry that this happened and will of course cover the cost of any necessary repairs to our customers’ vehicles.”

When the Times & Speaker approached Tesco with David and Alan’s complaints, a spokesman added: “We’re sincerely sorry for the disruption caused to these customers over the past couple of days.”